A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 2, Issue 1 - Winter 2001/2002
Australia: Melbourne AIDS Conference: Confronting HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination
Breaking Down Barriers, the sixth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) took place October 5–10, 2001, in Melbourne, Australia.
The HIV/AIDS epidemics in Asia and the Pacific are as diverse as the regions themselves.While some countries such as Thailand have managed to successfully slow the rate of infection, others, such as India, are estimating an epidemic that is reaching proportions previously seen only in Africa.
UNAIDS estimates that there are 3.9 million HIV/AIDS cases in India, officially the highest rate in the region. In some parts of India, studies find HIV in 10 percent of those with STDs and in more than three percent of pregnant women.
Similar studies in parts of Myanmar have found rates of five percent among pregnant women. China’s health ministry estimates that approximately 600,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2000, and numbers of reported HIV infections during the first half of 2001 were 67 percent higher than the same period in 2000. Given these observations, the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China could well exceed one million by the end of 2001.
Conferences like the ICAAP have helped clarify future actions needed to improve the lives of people living with the virus and to protect those at risk.
More than 90 percent of people living with HIV are in developing countries, and HIV/AIDS remains a significant challenge in poor countries. Poverty and despair is the common environment of epidemics, and discrimination against those affected and living with HIV/AIDS is a critical topic that needs addressing.
The underlying theme of the conference was how stigma and discrimination are barriers in the fight against AIDS. Effective action against HIV/AIDS needs to respect and understand the diversity of the epidemic.One of those lessons is that HIV-related discrimination exacerbates the epidemic.
Fear of discrimination may prevent people from seeking treatment for AIDS or from publicly or internally acknowledging their HIV status.
People with HIV—or suspected of being HIV positive—are often turned away from health care providers, fired from their jobs, shunned by their families, evicted from their homes, and subjected to physical violence.
“HIV-related stigma and discrimination remain an immense barrier to effectively fighting the most devastating epidemic humanity had ever known,” said Peter Piot, executive director of the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) at the Congress’ opening ceremony.
Denial is also associated with discrimination. Many people deny that HIV exists in their communities. Many do not know they are HIV-positive and are afraid to take the test to determine their HIV status because of the stigma attached to the virus. In most countries,
AIDS was first perceived as a “disease of outsiders,” imported by foreigners.This perception was fed on racism, and bred xenophobia.The result is often times social exclusion and segregation.This, in turn, leaves individuals silent and prevents the social mobilization that is essential in fighting the epidemic. AIDS, poverty, and discrimination are mutually reinforcing.The late Jonathan Mann, one of the first and most dynamic global health care leaders to speak out on the inextricable link between human rights and health care, declared that AIDS discrimination “isn’t just an effect, it’s actually a root cause of the epidemic itself.”
Of the 36 million cases of HIV, seven million are estimated in the Asian and Pacific region.
With Asia and the Pacific containing over half the world’s population, a potential explosion of the epidemic is enormous.
Yet, despite the many challenges, there are many successes and much work taking place in the region. The ICAAP was very successful in organizing a forum that had a high level of participation from Asian and Pacific countries.This represented their strong commitment to the fight against AIDS.
The conference was not only successful in sharing effective programs of care and prevention but also was key to mobilizing political support in the region. It also enhanced the actual abilities of those working in the field through skills-building workshops.
Web Master: siecus@siecus.org